Real-time on-board diagnostics (OBD) output parameter-based commercial fleet maintenance alert system

Abstract

A novel real-time OBD output parameter-based commercial fleet maintenance alert system performs an automated and intelligent analysis of each vehicle's OBD and vehicle sensor output parameters in real time during the operation of the vehicle to determine and alert each fleet vehicle's maintenance needs to an electronic device utilized by a driver or a commercial fleet operator. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system is also capable of performing a machine-level pattern analysis to correlate a previously-alerted maintenance need of a particular vehicle with a subsequent breakdown of the particular vehicle in a commercial fleet to predict a future probability of similar breakdowns by other vehicles in the commercial fleet. In addition, the commercial fleet maintenance alert system is able to generate maintenance status reports and estimate maintenance costs for machine-identified vehicle maintenance needs, which is then compared against actual maintenance costs to improve the accuracy of future cost estimations.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A commercial fleet maintenance alert system comprising:
 a vehicle on-board diagnostics (OBD) device connected to an engine control unit or a vehicular control chipset of a vehicle to record, diagnose, and generate engine, vehicle dynamics, and vehicle parts operations data as streams of vehicle on-board diagnostics (OBD) data output; 
 a maintenance needs analytics module connected to the vehicle OBD device and analyzes the streams of vehicle OBD data output and maintenance threshold settings parameters to determine a state or municipal mandatory vehicle inspection and maintenance day-meter value that indicates remaining days as a positive number decreasing towards zero until a mandatory vehicle inspection and maintenance violation date is reached, and as a negative number if the mandatory vehicle inspection and maintenance violation date elapses without a reset authorized by a government regulatory entity, and wherein the maintenance needs analytics module also determines a vehicle maintenance need for a maintenance alert generation and to derive a quantitative correlation between the vehicle maintenance need identified by the maintenance needs analytics module and a future breakdown of the vehicle, wherein the quantitative correlation is an output of a vehicle breakdown pattern analysis module incorporated in the commercial fleet maintenance alert system; 
 a commercial fleet maintenance needs alert and report generation system connected to the maintenance needs analytics module, wherein the commercial fleet maintenance needs alert and report generation system comprises a commercial fleet maintenance needs alert module configured to generate a maintenance needs alert based on the vehicle maintenance need identified by the maintenance needs analytics module, and a commercial fleet maintenance report module configured to generate a report containing a maintenance requirement non-compliance item or an urgent maintenance need, wherein the maintenance needs alert and the report are transmitted to an electronic device utilized by a vehicle driver or by a system operator; and 
 a semiconductor chip or a hardware device that contains at least one of the maintenance needs analytics module and the commercial fleet maintenance needs alert and report generation system. 
 
     
     
       2. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle-specific maintenance needs identification analytics unit and a commercial fleet-level maintenance needs identification and analytics unit that incorporate an OBD and vehicle sensor output information analysis module, an individual vehicle-level maintenance threshold setting module, a commercial fleet-level maintenance global threshold setting module, a maintenance needs identification and analytics module, a vehicle part and fluid replacement cycle tracking module, a day-meter and hour-meter maintenance period regulatory requirement calculation module, an estimated and actual maintenance cost calculation module, and the vehicle breakdown pattern analysis module. 
     
     
       3. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , further comprising an OBD data transceiver unit that transmits the streams of vehicle OBD data output from the vehicle OBD device to the maintenance needs analytics module. 
     
     
       4. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , further comprising a commercial fleet maintenance database that contains vehicle maintenance records for all fleet vehicles in a commercial fleet, wherein the commercial fleet maintenance database executed on a computer server and is connected to the maintenance needs analytics module. 
     
     
       5. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the maintenance needs alert is a text message, a chat message, an email, or a phone call generated by the commercial fleet maintenance needs alert and report generation system. 
     
     
       6. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the report containing the maintenance requirement non-compliance item or the urgent maintenance need is part of a machine-generated periodic report to the vehicle driver or to the system operator on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. 
     
     
       7. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , further comprising a wireless and wired data network for data communication among the vehicle OBD device, the maintenance needs analytics module, the commercial fleet maintenance needs alert and report generation system, and the electronic device utilized by the vehicle driver or the system operator. 
     
     
       8. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 7 , wherein the electronic device utilized by the vehicle driver or the system operator is a personal computer, a smart phone, a tablet computer, or another wireless communications device. 
     
     
       9. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is a truck, a taxi, a van, or another vehicle operated and managed by a vehicle fleet company. 
     
     
       10. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle maintenance need is related to a vehicle part inspection, a vehicle part replacement, or a fluid change. 
     
     
       11. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the maintenance needs analytics module and the commercial fleet maintenance needs alert and report generation system provide a vehicle maintenance monitoring alert user interface that highlights a plurality of maintenance action items and color-codes the maintenance action items based on a level of urgency for inspecting or replacing identified parts or fluids. 
     
     
       12. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the quantitative correlation between the vehicle maintenance need identified by the maintenance needs analytics module and the future breakdown of the vehicle is expressed as an odds ratio or a risk ratio computed by the vehicle breakdown pattern analysis module. 
     
     
       13. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the streams of vehicle OBD data output contain a vehicle identification number, a current odometer reading, a total engine operating hour, and a malfunction component fault code, if any. 
     
     
       14. The commercial fleet maintenance alert system of  claim 1 , wherein the maintenance threshold settings parameters define required or desired part inspection or replacement intervals that are initiated or reset by the system operator after a previous part inspection or replacement.